Our town through time: a brief history of Chesterfield's Winding Wheel

A heritage guide to Chesterfield with historian Philip Riden

Transcript

00:00Hello, I'm Philip Ryden. I'm the editor of the Victoria County History in Derbyshire,

00:05and I have a long-standing interest in the history of Chesterfield, my hometown.

00:09I've been asked to say something about some of the more interesting buildings in the town centre.

00:13Here we are outside what is now the winding wheel, built in the early 1920s as the Odeon

00:19cinema or the picture house, by far the most elegant of Chesterfield's three traditional

00:24cinemas. It was extended around 1930 with the addition of ballroom and restaurant,

00:30which many people will remember. After it closed as a cinema, it was bought by the council,

00:36they've adapted it into a more flexible performance area, conference centre, what have you,

00:42called the winding wheel in commemoration of the town's connection with the coal industry.

00:47The building is one of many in the town centre, built in the 1920s with timber framing to the main

00:53façade, although less elaborate than some buildings of that sort.